More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)

allotments

Patches of ground, each a quarter of an acre (0.1ha) in size, which can be rented from a local authority. The idea of providing land on which poor families could grow their own vegetables goes back several centuries, but in the late 19C it became a statutory obligation on local authorities to make such plots available – a process culminating in the Allotments Act of 1908. The number of allotments rose in World War I from 600,000 to 1.5 million, and there was a similar temporary increase in World War II. Allotments in urban districts have become increasingly important, being used in recent decades largely as a leisure activity.